Friday, May 4, 2007

Dying for religion or Politics?





Jeff Weiss, editor of the Religion Blog of the Dallas Morning News distills his unease into a question, "Should I care more about evil done in the name of God vs. evil done for power or politics or any of the other myriad reasons? And if so, why?"

After a thoughtful comment, "The murder of those three Christians in Turkey last month was certainly horrible. (Bruce blogged it shortly after it happened, btw.) But how many innocents died violently in Iraq or Afghanistan or Darfur yesterday whose stories will never appear in the DMN? More than three, I'll bet. When I see the news releases about persecuted individual Christians from elsewhere in the world, I sigh. Not because I don't feel the pain. But because there's so much pain out there. Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Pagan, Younameits."

Indeed, it is a question we need to address squarely. On my part, I have eased and distilled my thoughts in to this frame of response. I am making a connection but not connected yet, you might have that missing phrase or a response that may answer the above question to a blissful, wholesome answer.

We should care about every life and as members of the society, each one of us has to strive for a balanced society without pointing fingers at anyone but ourselves. . It is our duty to keep law and order and faithfully guard the safety of every citizen. We have an obligation to maintain an equilibrium in the society for every one’s good including my own.

Often, I think of the example my dad gave me about serving humankind. He said, if you were to walk down the street in your neighborhood and see a car coming, and you also see a child is crawling into the middle of the road; your instant reaction is to dive and pull that child out of the road. Just as the man in New York subway dived to save the man who fell on the rail road tract.

This is the most crucial moment that we can connect with the humanity, I believe, inherently we are good people and we react to situations like the subway or pulling the child out of harm's way in genuine humanness. Now, if we introduce the element of deliberations, and for a moment think about the race, religion, ethnicity of that person we saved, we may get corrupted and find excuses to act differently.

In the incidents above, it was human, and we honored the life given by God to all. In the case of Turkey situation, we added the element of politics that the life of those three Christians did not mean much to them, and did the wrong thing by killing them. This wrong did not stem from religion, as all religions including the one of the killers, prohibit killing, “Killing one human is like killing the whole humanity". It appeared to be done in the name of religion, it really was not, it was the politics of one versus the other.

We have a choice; to stop the situation from further deteriorating or to conflagrate the situation by blaming the ‘innocent party’ religion. Ideally most of us want to go with the first option, but we veer towards action and consciously or politically act out by falling into the evil pit, that further pits one against the other.

The Turkey incident may be branded with a religious flag, but it really is about being human. If we take the human approach, we may find an easing of tensions and see some solutions on the horizon.

Let’s not call it a Muslim V Christian conflict, as the chameleon will express the color of politics and creates a wedge, deepens the chasm and creates more tension, and do the opposite of what we desire.

We need to get to know each other as humans, it is a long process, and we have to be patient and work towards it. Peace on earth is a natural desire of humans wanting to live safely and fully. We fail ourselves and God (or the natural order for our atheist friends) with our politics and impatience.


Mike Ghouse
www.FoundationforPluralism.com
www.WorldMuslimCongress.com
http://MikeGhouseforAmerica.blogspot.com

http://religion.beloblog.com/
Does dying for religion's sake merit extra attention?
06:20 PM CDT on Thursday, May 3, 2007


Primus: I'll refocus some ruminations from the blog this week. Sam Hodges had posted:

"Denny Burk, assistant professor of New Testament at Criswell College in Dallas, messaged me. He's concerned that few people seem to know that three Christians were killed in Turkey last month, and that life as a Christian there seems to be getting increasingly perilous."
To which I posted:

"The murder of those three Christians in Turkey last month was certainly horrible. (Bruce blogged it shortly after it happened, btw.) But how many innocents died violently in Iraq or Afghanistan or Darfur yesterday whose stories will never appear in the DMN? More than three, I'll bet. When I see the news releases about persecuted individual Christians from elsewhere in the world, I sigh. Not because I don't feel the pain. But because there's so much pain out there. Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Pagan, Younameits."

Which only got partway to what was bothering me. In an exchange with an actual reader (thanks Tammy!), I was able to distill my unease into a question:
"Should I care more about evil done in the name of God vs. evil done for power or politics or any of the other myriad reasons? And if so, why?"

Let me be really clear about what I'm asking. I am appalled at the murder of the three Christians in Turkey. And I understand that people tend to feel the most pain when one of their own is injured. But as a matter of principle, how should I – should anyone – react when we get an advocacy note about a particular killing? Should religious context matter? And if so, how?

Clearly Professor Burk (and others who are passing along links to this story. I'm getting them, too.) believes there is something notable about these particular deaths. Something that we should pay special attention to. Even beyond other deaths and sufferings in the world.

Let me throw this question out to the floor, here. Not as a contest. This is too serious to trivialize. But if I get good answers, I'll post them to the blog and alert you in the Peek. Send your thoughts to me at jweiss@dallasnews.com.

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quraan burning

Planned Muslim Response to Qur'an Burning by Pastor Jones on September 11 in Mulberry, Florida

PRESS RELEASE
August 19, 2013| Dallas, Texas

Mike Ghouse
Text/Talk: (214) 325-1916
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Mirza A Beg
(205) 454-8797
mirza.a.beg@gmail.com

www.WorldMuslimCongress.com


PLANNED MUSLIMS RESPONSE TO QUR'AN BURNING BY PASTOR JONES ON 9/11/13 IN MULBERRY, FLORIDA

We as Muslims plan to respond to pastor Terry Jones' planned burning of 3000 copies of Quran on September 11, 2013 in positive terms.

Our response - we will reclaim the standard of behavior practiced by the Prophet concerning “scurrilous and hostile criticism of the Qur’an” (Muhammad Asad Translation Note 31, verse 41:34). It was "To overcome evil with good is good, and to resist evil by evil is evil." It is also strongly enjoined in the Qur’an in the same verse 41:34, “Good and evil deeds are not equal. Repel evil with what is better; then you will see that one who was once your enemy has become your dearest friend.”

God willing Muslims will follow the divine guidance and pray for the restoration of Goodwill, and on that day many Muslim organizations will go on a “blood drive” to save lives and serve humanity with kindness.

We invite fellow Americans of all faiths, races, and ethnicities to join us to rededicate the pledge, “One nation under God”, and to build a cohesive America where no American has to live in apprehension, discomfort or fear of fellow Americans. This event is a substitute for our 10th Annual Unity Day Celebration (www.UnitydayUSA.com) held in Dallas, but now it will be at Mulberry, Florida.

Unwittingly Pastor Jones has done us a favor by invigorating us by his decision to burn nearly 3000 copies Quran on September 11, 2013. Obviously he is not satisfied by the notoriety he garnered by burning one Qur'an last year.

As Muslims and citizens we honor the free speech guaranteed in our constitution. We have no intentions to criticize, condemn or oppose Pastor Terry Jones' freedom of expression. Instead, we will be donating blood and praying for goodness to permeate in our society.

We plan to follow Jesus Christ (pbuh), a revered prophet in Islam as well as Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) – that of mitigating the conflicts and nurturing good will for the common good of the society.

We hope, this event and the message will remind Muslims elsewhere in the world as well, that violence is not the way. Muslims, who react violently to senseless provocation, should realize that, violence causes more violence, and besmirches the name of the religion that we hold so dear. We believe that Prophet Muhammad was a mercy to the mankind, and we ought to practice what we believe and preach. We must not insult Islam by the negative reactions of a few.

We can only hope it will bring about a change in the attitude of the followers of Pastor Jones, and in the behavior of those Muslims who reacted violently the last time Pastor sought notoriety – We hope this small step towards a bridge to peaceful coexistence would propel us towards building a cohesive society.

Like most Americans a majority of Muslims quietly go about their own business, but it is time to speak up and take positive action instead of negative reaction. May this message of peace and goodwill reverberate and reach many shores.

Lastly, we appreciate the Citizens of Mulberry, Florida, Honorable Mayor George Hatch, City Commissioners, police and Fire Chiefs for handing this situation very well. This will add a ‘feather of peace’ in the City’s reputation. We hope Mulberry will be a catalyst in showing the way in handling conflict with dignity and peace.

We thank the Media for giving value to the work towards peace rather than conflict.






URL- http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2013/08/planned-muslim-response-to-quran_18.html



Thank you.

CIVIL DIALOGUE

The people in Dallas are making an effort to understand and clean their own hearts first, when we are free from bias, it would be easy to share that with others. Islam teaches us in so many ways to "respect the otherness of others" and it is time we find simple practical ways of doing it.